Girls’ education – the facts

1. Education for All Global Monitoring Report
Fact Sheet
October 2013
Girls’ education – the facts
Millions of girls around the world are still being denied an education
PRIMARY SCHOOL:
• There are still 31 million girls of primary school age out of school. Of these 17 million are expected never
to enter school. There are 4 million fewer boys than girls out of school
• Three countries have over a million girls not in school: In Nigeria there are almost five and a half million,
Pakistan, over three million, and in Ethiopia, over one million girls out of school.
LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL:
• There are also 34 million female adolescents out of school, missing out on the chance to learn vital skills
for work.
SKILLS:
• Slow education progress for children today will have lifelong effects: Almost a quarter of young women
aged 15-24 today (116 million) in developing countries have never completed primary school and so lack
skills for work. Young women make up 58% of those not completing primary school.
LITERACY:
• Two-thirds of the 774 million illiterate people in the world are female.
For further information see 2012 EFA Global Monitoring Report; UNESCO Institute for Statistics database.

2. Girls’ education has a huge impact on all of society
Educated women are less likely to die in childbirth:
If all mothers completed primary education, maternal deaths would be reduced by two-thirds, saving
98,000 lives
In sub-Saharan Africa, if all women completed primary education, maternal deaths would be reduced
by 70%, saving almost 50,000 lives.
Educating girls can save millions of lives:
If all women had a primary education, there would be 15% fewer child deaths.
If all women had a secondary education, child deaths would be cut in half, saving 3 million lives.
Mothers’ education improves child nutrition
If all women had a primary education, 1.7 million children would be saved from stunting from
malnutrition.
If all women had a secondary education, 12 million children would be saved from stunting from
malnutrition
Girls with higher levels of education are less likely to have children at an early age
10% fewer girls would become pregnant under 17 years in sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia
if they all had a primary education
Almost 60% fewer girls would become pregnant under 17 years in sub-Saharan Africa and South and
West Asia if they all had a secondary education.
Educating girls is a key factor in hastening the demographic transition to lower birth rates.
In sub-Saharan Africa, women with no education have 6.7 births, on average. The figure falls to 5.8 for
those with primary education and more than halves, to 3.9, for those with secondary education.
Girls with higher levels of education are less likely to get married at an early age
If all girls had a primary education, there would be 14% fewer child marriages
If all girls had a secondary education, there would be two-thirds fewer child marriages
Education narrows pay gaps between men and women
In Pakistan, women with a primary education earn 51% what men earn. With a secondary education,
they earn 70% what men earn
In Jordan, women with a primary education earn 53% what men earn. With a secondary education,
they earn 67% what men earn
Educated women are more likely to find work:
In Brazil, only 37% of women with less than primary education are in work. This rises to 50% if they
have a primary education, and 60% with a secondary education
For further information see EFA Global Monitoring Report Education Transforms.

3. Education Transforms
Education keeps hunger away.
Mothers’ education improves children’s nutrition.
Education is vital to eliminate malnutrition in the
long term – especially education that empowers
women. Malnutrition is the underlying cause of
more than a third of global child deaths. Educated
mothers are more likely to ensure that their children
receive the best nutrients to help them prevent or
fight off ill health, know more about appropriate
health and hygiene practices, and have more power
in the home to make sure children’s nutrition needs
are met.
Education lessens early marriages and births.
Education empowers women to overcome
discrimination. Girls and young women who are
educated have greater awareness of their rights,
and greater confidence and freedom to make
decisions that affect their lives, improve their
own and their children’s health and chances of
survival, and boost their work prospects. One in
eight girls is married by the age of 15 in sub-
Saharan Africa and South and West Asia, and one
in seven has given birth by the age of 17.
Ensuring that girls stay in school is one of the
most effective ways of averting child marriage
and early births. Education is also a key factor in
hastening the demographic transition to lower
birth and mortality rates.
For further information see EFA Global Monitoring Report Education Transforms.

4. The bottom ten countries for female education
The EFA GMR’s World Inequality Database in Education, WIDE, highlights the
powerful influence of gender, combined with other factors such as ethnicity and
location, over which people have little control but which play an important role in
shaping their opportunities for education and life.
In 10 countries around the world, no more than half of poorest girls enter school, and in 10 countries, nine out of
ten of the poorest young women have not completed school.
Without a step change by the government to give these children and young people the education they need,
including a second chance for those who have missed out, they will be denied equal opportunities in work and
life forever.
Source: EFA GMR’s World Inequality Database in Education (WIDE)